One year after West blast, lawmaker drafts oversight bill

AUSTIN – The head of the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday said more stringent oversight of ammonium nitrate storage facilities is the only way to avoid another disaster like last year’s deadly explosion in West, a proposal already widely panned as burdensome overregulation by the panel’s Republicans.

House Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, on Tuesday distributed draft legislation that would require ammonium nitrate storage facilities to live up to stricter fire protection standards or pay fines and penalties of up to $5,000 a day. The legislation also would shift federal reporting requirements from the Department of State Health Services to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and would give the state fire marshal the power to inspect those locations and would not cover the transportation. Ammonium nitrate is a key ingredient in fertilizer.